The first day should take place without media, on Wednesday the public should be informed. The government has invited experts from various fields to consultations on Tuesday. Fiscal council head Christoph Badelt, the head of the Austrian e-business, Michael Strugl, and the secretary general of the Ministry of Defence, Arnold Kammel, will give presentations.
“It is important for us to have a complete picture of the situation, both in terms of economic development and energy supply and the geopolitical situation,” said Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP) in the run-up to the exam.
After a year of “fighting the crisis”, the work retreat was the right place “to assess the situation with experts from the fields of business, energy and geopolitics, to draw conclusions and to initiate the next concrete measures,” said Vice Chancellor Werner Kogler ( green).
Energy and fight against corruption
In terms of content, it is primarily about the energy supply. In an interview with APA, Kogler announced a “renewables expansion acceleration package”. In the field of renewables, the APA reported on Monday an agreement on the “EAG Investment Grants Ordinance Electricity” for 2023, an ordinance for the implementation of the Renewable Energy Sources Expansion Act (EAG).
EIA amendment is a long time coming
The amendment to the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, which is intended to assess the impact of a project on the environment, could not be implemented in the previous year.
One open point is the amendment to the environmental impact assessment (EIA), which, among other things, is intended to enable faster expansion of renewable energies. The resolution of the amendment in Parliament was actually announced for last autumn. The Greens had complained that the ÖVP was on the brakes on the amendment. “Whether and to what extent this can be presented in detail is still an open point,” said Kogler, but “the goal is for us to make progress there.”
According to media reports, the new criminal law on corruption will also be presented. The amendment is intended to close gaps that became apparent in the course of the “Ibiza affair”. The cornerstones are an extended criminal liability for the purchase of mandates and the expansion of the concept of public officials in the event of bribery. The Greens have been waiting for the ÖVP to approve their proposal for a long time. ÖVP club chairman August Wöginger had recently shown himself confident of an early agreement at the APA turn of the year.
According to “Standard”, intensive work is being done on the Freedom of Information Act. According to the newspaper, the ÖVP wanted to agree to one of the two projects, saying that more time was needed for the Freedom of Information Act.
Labor market issue, migration and Schengen not
The labor market and the acute shortage of workers, such as incentives to work longer, will also be a topic in Mauerbach. According to government circles, there is still no finished model here – it is unclear to what extent this can be achieved in the two days. Talks about reforming unemployment insurance were broken off in early December without success.
Government starts with New Year’s retreat
On Tuesday and Wednesday the government meets for a working retreat. A package for the expansion of renewable energies and a new criminal law on corruption should be presented.
In addition, the government should deal with the currently tense situation in the hospitals. The hospitals are largely state competence, according to “Standard”, Health Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) should be commissioned to work together with the states to find a solution to the crisis. There should be initial suggestions during the exam.
On the other hand, two hot topics of the past few weeks are not on the agenda: migration and Austria’s veto against Romania and Bulgaria joining the Schengen. There is disagreement on the subject of real estate transfer tax. According to Finance Minister Magnus Brunner (ÖVP), Ö1 would have liked to discuss the topic at the exam, the Greens are slowing down – more on this in vorarlberg.ORF.at.
demands from many quarters
Meanwhile, numerous demands were made to the coalition in advance. The President of the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB), Wolfgang Katzian, hopes that the cloister will provide further relief for employees. Before discussing incentives for working longer and “tax treats for overtime”, it would “be appropriate to finally ensure fairness with the tax-free surcharges and the official kilometer allowance,” said Katzian and called for an increase.
The President of the Federation of Industrialists (IV), Georg Knill, called for “a new performance debate” in view of the increasing labor shortage. Incentives are urgently needed to keep people at work longer, Knill demanded, analogous to the Austrian Economic Chamber (WKO). Knill once again called for concrete specifications for the Energy 2040 Master Plan from the Federal Government and in particular from Leonore Gewessler’s (Greens) Ministry of Energy.
Call for climate protection law
The environmental organization Greenpeace reiterated calls for “more effective” laws on climate protection. An end to “climate-damaging” subsidies was also demanded. A statement complained that the federal government was still behind schedule on numerous points from the government program. In the last full year of government, the ÖVP and the Greens would have to accelerate the exit from oil and gas in particular, it said.
In a broadcast on the occasion of the government meeting, the federal youth representation again called for basic child security “in order to combat child poverty in a preventive and sustainable manner”. A “strong” climate protection law was also recently demanded.
NEOS warns of setting the course
In the run-up to the government meeting, NEOS called for the green-turquoise coalition to set its course and make reforms. According to party leader Beate Meinl-Reisinger, what is needed is to strengthen competitiveness and innovative power, accelerate the energy transition, sustainably more net income, stricter anti-corruption laws and the right to an eleventh and twelfth school year for every child.
